Students, Massachusetts State Police take part in active shooter drill at Chelsea High School
In the wake of shootings across the United States, Chelsea students and Massachusetts State Police spent their Saturday running active shooter drills to stay prepared.
As many as 100 first responders, including firefighters and EMS, surrounded Chelsea High School to take part in the Active Shooter Hostile Event Response Training, or ASHER, drill. They went through two different scenarios, one with a single active shooter and another with multiple shooters. Students were asked to volunteer to pretend that they had been injured.
"When the real thing happens, it's going to be as chaotic as possible; that's why we're trying to make things as real as possible," Chelsea Police Captain Brian Dunn said. Dunn said in these active shooter training exercises, communication is key. They make sure to establish a master command center to help coordinate the response.
Active shooter trainings
First responders said it was beneficial to run the training so they could make corrections to their procedures if needed.
"Obviously, in this day and age, it's not if it's when type of deal, so we just want to be prepared as much as we can," said Dunn.
"This happens out in the real world; it definitely lets us see the procedure and how to handle what we do in the situation," one student said.
Students said they hope and pray they never have to put their training to use.
"I really started crying because I was left there for a second," Chelsea High School student Daisy Matthias said. "It can happen at any moment, so that's a big fear of mine, knowing that I could walk into school any day and that could be my last day."
UMass Boston
The drill comes just two days after police responded to UMass Boston for unconfirmed reports of a shooting. Police said that they had received a single 911 call about shots fired on the Dorchester campus.
Students were rattled by the incident as officers ran into buildings with guns and searched bags.
"We didn't even get to put on our shoes. We just got told to run out," student Shannon Mawn said.
The incident is still under investigation.